Teacher continues racist rant after failing to realize Zoom was on, mother of black child says

A black family has filed a lawsuit against a school district in California, alleging that racist remarks were filmed after a teacher apparently did not know she was still online with Zoom, and the district confirmed Thursday that the teacher had resigned.

Katura Stokes’ son, a 6th grade student at Desert Willow Fine Arts, Science and Technology Magnet Academy in Palmdale – about 50 miles north of downtown Los Angeles – had difficulty accessing the platform online school for distance learning, according to the claim, a precursor to a lawsuit in California.

Stokes set up a meeting with his son’s science teacher, Kimberly Newman, to try and resolve his e-learning issues, according to the statement.

On January 20, following the parent-teacher meeting on Zoom, Newman – who is white – did not end the meeting for all attendees and instead left his microphone and camera on, according to the statement.

It was then that Newman apparently made racist remarks, unaware that she could still be heard on Zoom, and Stokes began videotaping the call.

“Your son has learned to lie to everyone and make excuses,” Newman apparently said on the recording. “Because you’ve taught her to make excuses that nothing is her fault.” This is what black people do. This is what black people do. White people do it too, but black people do it a lot more. “

Snippets of the video were posted by lawyers for Stokes and were viewed by NBC News. It is not known what happened before the video was recorded.

Newman apparently continues to claim on the recording that she and several other teachers made unsuccessful attempts to reach Stokes throughout the school year to discuss her son’s progress, saying it was “the first time that I was reaching this woman for the whole year ”.

“These parents are those kind of pieces of s… they are,” Newman said. “Black. He’s black. It’s a black family.

The claim says that during the rant, Stokes called the school principal who immediately called Newman and told him his video was still in progress. Newman denied the remarks she made, still on video, while Stokes continued recording.

Dave Garcia, a spokesperson for the Palmdale School District, told NBC News on Thursday that the district was adamantly opposed to any kind of racial bias and that Newman was no longer employed by the district.

“Within hours, the teacher was on administrative leave and within days, she resigned. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior, ”Garcia said. “This is not the vocabulary Palmdale suggests teachers use.”

Newman could not be reached for comment.

John C. Taylor, Stokes’ attorney, called the comments on the video “horrific” and “truly heartbreaking for a mother to hear and for her young son to hear.”

“All children have the right to receive an educational experience without discrimination and this video has shown what minority students often face behind the scenes today,” Taylor said.

Stokes’ personal injury claim points to emotional distress, libel and violations of civil rights law against the Palmdale School District. Garcia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the legal claim.

Last month, another Zoom recording captured two professors at Georgetown University Law School making racist remarks. A teacher can be heard saying, “I hate to say that. I end up having this angst every semester that a lot of my inferiors are black, it happens almost every semester. “The two teachers are no longer part of the school.